NEWS

FEDERAL NEWS

Rules & Revisions

Lead and copper enter drinking water primarily through plumbing materials. Exposure to lead and copper may cause health problems ranging from stomach distress to brain damage. In 1991, EPA published a regulation to control lead and copper in drinking water. This regulation is known as the Lead and Copper Rule (also referred to as the LCR). Since 1991 the LCR has undergone various revisions, ...more

Fundings & Penalties

In order to better meet the Agency’s responsibilities related to the protection of public health and the environment, EPA has developed a new environmental justice (EJ) mapping and screening tool called EJSCREEN. It is based on nationally consistent data and an approach that combines environmental and demographic indicators in maps and reports....more

The criminal enforcement program investigates and assists in the prosecution of knowing or negligent environmental violations. This year’s cases resulted in a total of 153 years of incarceration for individual defendants, plus fines of $2,829,202,563 for individual and corporate defendants, with an additional $3,092,631 in court ordered environmental projects and $147,520,585 in restitution.more

STATE NEWS

The City of Georgetown, Texas, and its mayor, Dale Ross, have become known internationally over the past couple of years due to the city’s claim that its municipal electricity utility uses 100% renewable energy.

But as recent developments show, Georgetown’s proverbial 15 minutes of fame came at great cost to taxpayers and electricity ratepayers. ...more

A fire that broke out at a petrochemical storage facility over the weekend in the industrial Houston suburb of Deer Park has been extinguished,the Houston Chronicle reportedWednesday morning.

The fire burned through Tuesday after intensifying Monday night. Despite a tall black plume that billowed over the nation's fourth-largest city for three days, state and local officials emphasized thatmonitoringdatashow the air is still safe to breathe....more

A new report on industrial air pollution in Texas calls for stronger enforcement of federal Clean Air Act standards and tougher penalties for “upsets” — releases of air pollutants caused by equipment failures, human error or other factors.

The advocacy groupEnvironment Texassaid 275 companies reported 4,067 breakdowns and other events that released more than 63 million pounds of air pollution in 2017. ...more

Long after the rains stopped and floodwaters receded, thousands of Texans whose homes were flooded by Hurricane Harvey tried to participate in buyout programs that would help diminish the property damage of future floods.

And while some homeowners have taken advantage, these buyouts did not always happen in the most strategic possible way, according to a newreportby Texas A&M University and The Nature Conservancy....more

As the Trump administrationconsidersweakening Obama-era safeguards for the disposal of toxic coal waste, a new report shows that groundwater near all of Texas’ 16 monitored coal-fired power plants is contaminated with pollutants — including known carcinogens — linked to so-called coal ash.

Thereportby the Washington D.C.-basedEnvironmental Integrity Project, released Thursday, analyzed on-site groundwater monitoring data that power companies are now required to report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under anObama-era regulationknown as the “Coal Ash Rule.”....more

What’s happening is unprecedented. In December, companies in the Permian Basin — an ancient, oil-rich seabed that spans West Texas and southeastern New Mexico — were producing twice as much oil as they had four years earlier, during the last boom. Forecasters expectproduction to doubleagain by 2023.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others say the drilling spree is ushering in a new era of American energy independence, but American demand isn’t driving it. Foreign demand is.

In late 2015, Congress cut a deal to lift 40-year-old restrictions on the export of crude oil. That opened the floodgates..”....more

Rules & Revisions

ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS

The need to protect our environment is something both parties can agree upon. So far this Congress, Republicans have introduced a variety of proposals that would curb carbon dioxide emissions while strengthening the competitiveness of our economy. Encouraging carbon capture technology, carbon taxes, and state clean energy programs are all ideas worthy of debate. The Democrats' Green New Deal resolution, however, is not...more

Microbiology

A "superbug" gene that was first detected in India — and allows bacteria to evade "last resort" antibiotics — has now been found thousands of miles away, in a remote region of the Arctic, according to a new study.

Deadly, drug-resistant tuberculosis -- as lethal as Ebola and tough to treat in even the best hospitals -- is a "blinking red" worldwide threat, the head of a global health fund warned in an interview with AFP.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is on a mission to eradicate the three epidemics and plans to spend around $12 billion on it over the next three years...more

Air Quality

Great progress has been made in achieving national air quality standards, which EPA originally established in 1971 and updates periodically based on the latest science. One sign of this progress is that visible air pollution is less frequent and widespread than it was in the 1970s.

However, air pollution can be harmful even when it is not visible. Newer scientific studies have shown that some pollutants can harm public health and welfare even at very low levels. EPA in recent years revised standards for five of the six common pollutants subject to national air quality standards. EPA made the standards more protective because new, peer-reviewed scientific studies showed that existing standards were not adequate to protect public health and the environment...more

Residents in three Russian cities have beentweeting images and videos showing cars, streets and buildings covered in gross-looking, black snow.

Authorities have attributed the black snow to coal-processing plants in the area. The director of one of the plants told The Siberian Times that a shield meant to prevent coal powder from escaping has failed, resulting in the soot-colored snow....more

Pollution is turning the snow green in the Russian city of Pervouralsk, the latest in a series of incidents fueling growing concerns about the environmental health of the country that could threaten President Vladimir Putin's popularity,The Independent reported Monday.

One video shared by ND News Feb. 15 shows a patch of green snow outside a pre-school close to a local chrome plant that residents blame for the phenomenon....more

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

When most animal bodies process nutrients, they expel waste in the form of liquids and solids — generally referred to as urine and feces. Waste is usually smelly and unappetizing (for people, at least) but it can also be surprisingly beneficial. Pee and poo have a wide range of applications; providing nutrients for diverse ecosystems, serving as a foundation for expensive perfumes, or even fueling robots....more

A 210-foot-long (64 meters) monster made from grease and used baby-wipes has clogged up a sewer in Sidmouth in southwestern England. British officials said in a statement they expect that removing the gooey blob, which will happen in "exceptionally challenging work conditions," ...more

The trucks and trains that transport goods across the United States emit gases and particles that threaten human health and the environment. A University of Illinois-led project developed a new model that predicts through 2050 the impact of different environmental policies on human mortality rates and short- and long-term climate change caused by particulate and greenhouse gas emissions...more

California's largest county has banned the construction of large solar and wind farms on more than 1 million acres of private land, bending to the will of residents who say they don’t want renewable energy projects industrializing their rural desert communities northeast of Los Angeles.

Thursday’s 4-1 vote by San Bernardino County’s Board of Supervisors highlighted a challenge California could face as it seeks to eliminate the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels.

State lawmakers passed a bill last year requiring utility companies to get 60% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and 100% from climate-friendly sources by 2045....more

The company sPower wants to build a 500-Megawatt solar project on the 6,350-acre site in western Spotsylvania County, with 3,500 acres being used to house 1.8 million solar panels. The land, currently owned by seven different landowners who plan to sell it to the company, has already been cleared for timber in anticipation of the project. sPowerhas saidthe project "will be safe, reliable, quiet and screened from public view."

But a vocal contingent of activist-residents are working to pressure county officials to deny special use permits for sPower, arguing it would have disastrous environmental, economic and cultural impacts on the area. They point out that the proposed site is nearly half the size of Manhattan....more